COMAC C919
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
COMAC to co-develop the C919-squeeze (plateau variant) with Tibet Airlines.
Additional note by @FATIII on Weibo: It is worth noting that from the renderings, the fuselage of the plateau variant of C919 seems to have been shortened, and the number of escape doors on the wings has been reduced from 2 pairs to 1 pair, but the model name is still C919.
Here's one more by @9x9走向CS之路 on Weibo.
Additional note by @FATIII on Weibo: It is worth noting that from the renderings, the fuselage of the plateau variant of C919 seems to have been shortened, and the number of escape doors on the wings has been reduced from 2 pairs to 1 pair, but the model name is still C919.
Here's one more by @9x9走向CS之路 on Weibo.
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A nicely-made CGI of the COMAC C919's shortened (plateau), base and stretched variants respectively. Made by @Astrosiren_深空海妖 on Weibo.
yes, this might actually be a great reason to produce a shrink of C919. I didn't think about this before, but the market for high altitude aircraft is quite high in China. Huge fleet of A319 and 737-700 for this role. Now, good chance A319NEO never get produced in large numbers and may not be seen as an attractive option for domestic airlines. C919 shrink makes more sense for this scenario.
Keep in mind that shrinks normally have better short field performance compared to the regular version, that's why they get used in this role
MwRYum
Major
Considering how many high airports China alone has, there's a niche market perhaps not of interest for Airbus and Boeing, but COMAC can fulfill...
And perhaps not that niche once proven...?
Could it also be that a shortened (plateau) C919 variant, while using the same engines as the base C919 variant, actually has better performance for operations from high altitude airports than regional airliners like the A220, which uses engines that are less powerful than the ones on the shortened C919 despite having a smaller size and lower MTOW?
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That’s hard to say. I don’t have data.
but if you are an airline and already have c919 but do not have a220. The decision is pretty easy.
keep in mind that you can continue to use a320neo here but you will have to block many seats to ensure you can achieve desired range out of high altitude airport. That’s something airlines don’t enjoy doing.
remember, hot and high are factors reducing engine performance. Another factor is runway length.